Caterpillar (CAT) Competitors

Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) and Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) are both large-cap industrials companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their media sentiment, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, dividends, community ranking, earnings, risk, valuation and profitability.

Is CAT or DE more profitable?

Caterpillar has a net margin of 16.65% compared to Deere & Company's net margin of 12.94%. Caterpillar's return on equity of 58.18% beat Deere & Company's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Caterpillar	16.65%	58.18%	12.57%
Deere & Company	12.94%	27.31%	5.87%

Do institutionals and insiders have more ownership in CAT or DE?

71.0% of Caterpillar shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 68.6% of Deere & Company shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.3% of Caterpillar shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.3% of Deere & Company shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer CAT or DE?

Caterpillar received 49 more outperform votes than Deere & Company when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 64.27% of users gave Deere & Company an outperform vote while only 62.21% of users gave Caterpillar an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Caterpillar	Outperform Votes 1220 62.21%	Underperform Votes 741 37.79%
Deere & Company	Outperform Votes 1171 64.27%	Underperform Votes 651 35.73%

Which has stronger valuation and earnings, CAT or DE?

Caterpillar has higher revenue and earnings than Deere & Company. Caterpillar is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Deere & Company, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Caterpillar	$63.26B	2.67	$10.79B	$20.52	17.45
Deere & Company	$44.46B	3.18	$7.10B	$20.67	25.24

Does the media refer more to CAT or DE?

In the previous week, Deere & Company had 13 more articles in the media than Caterpillar. MarketBeat recorded 51 mentions for Deere & Company and 38 mentions for Caterpillar. Caterpillar's average media sentiment score of 1.23 beat Deere & Company's score of 1.04 indicating that Caterpillar is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Caterpillar	29 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	6 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Deere & Company	28 Very Positive mention(s)	6 Positive mention(s)	12 Neutral mention(s)	2 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do analysts recommend CAT or DE?

Caterpillar currently has a consensus target price of $372.92, suggesting a potential upside of 4.13%. Deere & Company has a consensus target price of $515.19, suggesting a potential downside of 1.23%. Given Caterpillar's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts clearly believe Caterpillar is more favorable than Deere & Company.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Caterpillar	0 Sell rating(s)	5 Hold rating(s)	9 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.73
Deere & Company	0 Sell rating(s)	12 Hold rating(s)	8 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.48

Is CAT or DE a better dividend stock?

Caterpillar pays an annual dividend of $5.64 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.6%. Deere & Company pays an annual dividend of $6.48 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.2%. Caterpillar pays out 27.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Deere & Company pays out 31.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Caterpillar has raised its dividend for 30 consecutive years and Deere & Company has raised its dividend for 4 consecutive years. Caterpillar is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Which has more volatility & risk, CAT or DE?

Caterpillar has a beta of 1.37, indicating that its stock price is 37% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Deere & Company has a beta of 1.09, indicating that its stock price is 9% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Caterpillar beats Deere & Company on 16 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.